Narbeck Wetland Sanctuary Park

6900 Seaway Blvd.Everett, WA98204

Hours

7:00 am - Dusk (20 minutes after sundown)

Rating

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Narbeck Wetland Sanctuary Park

This 42.76 acre park is accessible for passive recreational use with trails, interpretive signs, viewpoints, picnic tables, and restrooms. Narbeck offers two (2) walking trails, a small loop trail and a 1/2 mile interpretative trail around the perimeter, with educational signs and self guided tours.

The public park provides an outdoor classroom for groups that overlooks an open water habitat that attracts waterfowl. During the school year (September-April), Park Rangers can be scheduled to provide intrepretative presentations by calling Park Operations Supervisor Rich Patton at 425-388-6618.

History

Before Snohomish County, which owns and operates Paine Field Airport, could impact several small wetlands on airport property for runway safety projects, it needed to create new wetlands. The 50-acre Narbeck Wetland site, was one of two results. Creating new wetlands in advance of impacting other wetlands is called “mitigation banking.”

The Airport enhanced and built wetlands, wetland buffers and wildlife habitat at Narbeck creating the first wetland mitigation bank in Washington State.

Narbeck Wetland Sanctuary was dedicated and opened on July 31, 1999 as a passive recreation and environmental education public park.

In April, 2008, regulatory agencies determined the Narbeck Wetland Mitigation Bank and the Swanson Wetland Mitigation Bank fully met all environmental performance standards and the mitigation credits were made available for use.

In September, 2008, Snohomish County received top honors from the Washington State Department of Ecology for its approved wetland mitigation banks, the first in the state to receive full local, state and federal accreditation.

The airport has operated Narbeck as a public educational park since July 1, 1999, accessible for passive recreational use with trails, interpretive signs, viewpoints, picnicking facilities, and restrooms. The Friends of Narbeck Wetland Sanctuary, a 501 (C)(3) non-profit organization, has protected the conservation values of Narbeck since it opened.

The Narbeck Wildlife Sanctuary has received numerous federal, state and regional environmental awards, and volunteers from Friends of Narbeck conduct several environmental educational group tours annually. The park hosts approximately 300 business and residential users daily.